Spiritual Practices

Why Follow a Spiritual Practice? There are groups who follow spiritual practices together. Some people practice disciplines they have followed all their lives, but do not know why. There are people who follow practices because “that is how we have always done it.” Some people were brought up with particular traditions and continue following them. […]

Hope is not a mere feeling or attitude. Hope, like gratitude or curiosity, is a way of life. Developing our Hope Muscles Hope is not being unrealistic. It is deeper than knowing “things will work out well.” Our hope depends not on being disconnected from real life, but on experiencing life as it really is. Not

Making a Real Difference There is deep spiritual power in knowing we are making a real difference. We want to know we will be remembered for our positive contributions. People struggle within themselves, desperately seeking the path for their lives. We desire assurance, certainty we help make the world a better place. Some of us

Hope is the spark which lights the fire of inspiration. Without hope, why would we go on trying? What is hope? Some people say hope is a feeling, or a positive attitude. People tell me they are more hopeful in the morning, less hopeful as the day continues. Some people tell me we receive what we

I am a member of a church where one liturgical season ends and another begins this week. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season we call Lent. Lent is not about giving things up; not about chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, or social media. During Lent, we take an honest, insightful look at who

There are people who spend their entire lives searching for the right path. Some of us have very specific requirements for the path we will choose to take. We want a good balance of sunlight and shade, not too wet and not too rocky. Some may prefer a gentle grade which is not too challenging to follow. We may

The spiritual story of where we live is about land and water. We may disagree about politics, but we fight about land and water. As the drought developed over the last few years we slowly began to conserve water. One dry day at a time we came to see water, like our land, is something

We know we are not supposed to get angry, or at least not show our anger to anyone else. Anger is not nice, not polite, and we are supposed to be nice and polite to other people. We are taught that when we respect other people, they are more likely to respect us. People tell

Things were much easier when I was a child. When I was growing up, the boundary between spiritual life and everything else was clearer. The spiritual stuff happened one day a week, when we worshipped and read scriptures. We did things a certain way, and spiritual life fit neatly into our schedule. The rest of the week

Some people are convinced spiritual life is about what we think. They believe it is more deeply spiritual to hold certain opinions and ideas. For them, spiritual life is essentially analytical and intellectual. They see growing spiritually as learning and finding answers to questions. It is important for them to be able to explain spiritual life